Sharp insights and bold ideas from across the Council

From climate change to the China challenge and the contest between democracy and dictatorship, the New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the US role in addressing them alongside allies and partners.

The Council’s flagship section features big ideas, groundbreaking research, lightning-fast expert reactions, in-depth analyses, and thought-provoking commentary to shape public policy.

Democracy Is Discipline and Self-Restraint

New Atlanticist
Mar 6, 2025

How European leaders are responding to Trump’s approach to Ukraine and Europe

From London and Berlin to Paris and Brussels, European leaders have taken several notable steps this week on security. This follows the blow-up between the Ukrainian and US presidents on February 28.

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Democracy Is Discipline and Self-Restraint

New Atlanticist
Feb 26, 2025

Why the US should not lift sanctions against Russia

By
Charles Lichfield

Sanctions are having an unmistakable effect, albeit below the inflated expectations of many in the West in early 2022. Lifting them now would be a mistake.

Conflict
Economic Sanctions

Democracy Is Discipline and Self-Restraint

New Atlanticist
Mar 5, 2025

The Egyptian plan for postwar Gaza is a good starting point—but it needs changes

By
Thomas S. Warrick

While many obstacles remain, the Egyptian proposal could form the starting point for negotiations over a workable plan for postwar Gaza.

Conflict
Crisis Management

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Content

New Atlanticist

Aug 29, 2012

Democracy Is Discipline and Self-Restraint

By Odeh Aburdene

The Arab uprisings over the last twenty months have shown that power flows from the bottom up, and people eventually will defy unjust tyranny and oppression. The Arab uprisings are a testament to the power of the powerless.

Libya North Africa

New Atlanticist

Aug 29, 2012

The Main Event

By Julian Lindley-French

Many people have inspired me. Winston Churchill for refusing to compromise with evil, Ed Murrow for taking on corrupt power to protect free speech, Martin Luther King for reminding Americans that all people are born equal and Nelson Mandela for creating a nation out of forgiveness. But there is one who this week will be […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 28, 2012

Soft Power through Hard Power Weapon Sales

By Derek Reveron

In a Congressionally-mandated report, Richard F. Grimmett and Paul K. Kerr recently detailed global arms transfer agreements in 2011 of $85.3 billion, which is greater than the economic activity of 119 countries and tops the defense budget of every single country in the world save the United States and China. The United States accounts for […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 27, 2012

UK Support for Military Action in Syria not in America’s Best Interest

By Sarwar Kashmeri

The last time a British prime minister endorsed an American president’s plans for military intervention, it resulted in the US invasion of Iraq – one of the worst foreign policy blunders in recent American history. That is why last week’s endorsement by David Cameron of a warning by Barack Obama that even the threat of […]

United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 27, 2012

The Syria Bluff

By Julian Lindley-French

It is clearly intelligence-led. President Obama and Prime Minister Cameron have said that any recourse to chemical weapons by Damascus would be “completely unacceptable” and would lead the US and UK to “revisit their approach” to the crisis. According to Obama even moving the weapons would cross an American “red line” with “enormous consequences”. The […]

Syria United Kingdom

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2012

America Needs a Rudyard Kipling

By Sarwar Kashmeri

 Not long ago Britain was the world’s hegemon. Nothing stood in the way of British might. Or as the famous saying had it, the sun never set on the British Empire. As it was then with Britain, so it is now with the United States. Somewhere in the world the sun is always rising on […]

United Kingdom United States and Canada

New Atlanticist

Aug 23, 2012

Julian Assange’s Misrule of Law

By Ana Palacio

The uproar surrounding Ecuador’s grant of political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has obscured huge inconsistencies. Only by examining them can we understand what is truly at stake in the case.

European Union International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 22, 2012

Governments Must Thrive in Complex World

By Peter Ho

SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) was an unexpected event, a black swan. The virus entered Singapore on 25 February 2003, carried by three women who had returned from Hong Kong. It quickly spread. By the time the crisis was declared over in Singapore, 33 people had died out of the 238 people infected.

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2012

West Must Invest in Caspian Sea Energy

By Farid Osmanov

Tensions in the Caspian basin intensified this summer when Turkmenistan said it will bring a dispute about ownership of energy-rich Caspian Sea fields against Azerbaijan before the UN International Court of Justice. The atmosphere of distrust this incident created might seriously undermine the feasibility of future energy projects aimed at reducing Europe’s dependence on Russian […]

New Atlanticist

Aug 21, 2012

Far Away Islands of Which We Know Nothing

By Julian Lindley-French

It is a worrying vision of a dangerous future. Last week Chinese ‘activists’ landed on the Japanese-controlled but disputed islands of Senkaku (Diaoyu in Chinese) followed swiftly by Japanese nationalists. On the face of it this dispute seems almost tragi-comic, a plot straight out of Gilbert and Sullivan. Just one of those momentary summer headlines […]

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